Home » EFSA: Consideration on deoxynivalenol (DON) and related compounds in food and feed

Oct242017

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EFSA has assisted the European Commission in assessing the risks posed to human and animal health by the presence of the mycotoxin DON and its modified forms (3-acetyl-DON, 15-acetyl-DON and DON-3-glucoside) in cereal-based food and feed. Concerns were raised over the potential immunotoxicity and reproductive/developmental toxicity of DON, as well as its modified compounds (as these will be metabolised to DON in the gut). Although DON is genotoxic in vitro, the data suggest that this is the result of a threshold mode of action mediated by oxidative stress (i.e. a dose exists below which no genotoxicity will be observed), and no evidence of carcinogenicity was seen in a long-term mouse study.

A group tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 1 µg/kg bw/day was set based on reduced body-weight gain in a 2-year feeding study in mice. Human epidemiological data were available with regard to DON-related mycotoxicoses (mainly gastrointestinal problems, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea), allowing the derivation of a group acute reference dose (ARfD) of 8 µg/kg bw per eating occasion. Although the exposure data were reassuring against acute toxicity in consumers, mean levels of chronic exposure in children and chronic exposures in high-consuming adults were of potential concern. Acute and chronic exposures associated with adverse effects are also described for farm and companion animals.